Christmas Meringue Cookies

I have been wanting to try a meringue cookie forever now… I never have before! If there is ever an option of sugar cookies or chocolate I tend to pick that over meringue.

I am a silly silly girl. These cookies are much easier than I thought and such a unique and delicate texture! I am smitten. (Plus they are about 15 calories per cookie so you an eat a lot without feeling guilty. Plus they are naturally gluten free. Its win-win folks.)

And knowing I can change up the vanilla and use peppermint or orange or banana or strawberry or almond extract really opens up a world of possibility for these sweet confections.

Being a complete fan of all things Shabby Chic, I had to make a few girly White Christmas trees. I resisted the glitter and sprinkles. Well, until after this picture was taken that is!

Beat egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. (If using a freestanding mixer, use wire whisk attachment.) Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium-high. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Beat in extract and food color until well blended. Gently stir in chips, if desired.

Place meringue into pastry bag fitted with a 2D, 1G, or large star tip. Slowly pipe out in a circle for the small meringue cookie. For the tree, pipe out a small circle then continuously make smaller circles working your way up.

Bake both sheets of meringues at the same time 45 minutes. Turn oven off. Let meringues stand in oven 1 hour or until completely cooled.

A couple friends were gracious enough to also make some wonderful Christmas cookies using McCormick Vanilla. (And look, McCormick even has Pure Madagascar Organic Vanilla! Not only do I love their Pure Vanilla Extract, but this Organic version is such a wonderful addition!)

This post is from the talented Andrea of Baking Doux. Such a fun cookie!!

These chewy butter cookies have a delightful vanilla flavor and aroma; a dusting of cinnamon makes them sensational.

Adorable!! My son dropped my last bag of neighbor Christmas treats and they busted all over the street so I’ve been looking for a quick, easy substitute! For the trees, do you keep piping continuously or pipe the bottom circle, stop, next circle, stop, etc?

I love Meringue cookies! YUM. I was wondering if you have ever tried making them from leftover royal frosting. Not sure if it would work. I *think* you would have to add more egg whites to even out the sugar to egg ratio…. Just had some green royal icing leftover this week and thought it would be great if I could recycle them to these!

Have you tried these with carton egg whites? I’ve felt wasteful with yolks making Swiss Meringue Buttercream and started buying egg whites in cartons instead. I can only tell a tiny difference between them and “fresh” egg whites. I have an open carton that needs to be finished off, maybe I’ll give it a shot. I need some inexpensive options for my Christmas gift packages.

These look fabulous! Thanks for sharing the recipe! I actually gave it a try last night and made a batch, but when I pulled them out of the oven (following your instructions), they came out undercooked. They were still sticky and soft to the touch. Maybe I made them too big? Can I “over bake” these?

Just took my eggs out of the fridge to bring to room temp and going to try my hand at these gorgeous lil morsels! Throwing a baby shower for my sister and have some gluten free guests attending that will love these sweet treats. Hopefully mine will come out looking like yours! Thank you for the recipe.